Dry Docked

This was the sunset at our anchorage spot on Saturday night, Newfound Harbor off Big Pine Key.

Sunday aft, March 30th, we got to the Marathon Boat Yard where we were to have the rudder repair work done. This was the scene Monday morning when they lifted us out of the water.

Here's our rudder with a chunk missing from too many groundings. We think just the final one was an encounter with "something hard" and did us in. It doesn't look awful but Paul wasn't comfortable going out into the Atlantic not knowing what could be going on inside the rudder. The keel had a little paint missing in places but no damage.

The yard charges $10 per foot for pulling your boat; labor charges will be $80 per hour once they can start the repairs. The worst part is the yard doesn't allow you to stay on your boat once it's out of the water due to insurance so.... they arranged for us to stay at the Blue Water Motel across the street at the supposedly reduced rate of $129 per night which is $143.04 after taxes. Not that it wasn't enjoyable to have a real bed, shower, air conditioning and cable tv but we would have gladly stayed onboard and climbed up and down this ladder (below).

When on Wednesday the water was still dripping out of the rudder preventing the repair work from starting, we decided to rent a car and leave the rudder to drip. So on Thursday Paul biked to the airport to pick up a rental car and off we went for the 5-hour drive back up to Bonita Springs where we're staying with Jim and Lou for a few days. You guys are a godsend!

It was a pretty drive and interesting to see the Keys from the land side. You can see very clearly what they call the "bayside" on our left and the "oceanside" on our right. We crossed the state from east to west on I-75, known as "Alligator Alley". I only saw one gator though. Hopefully at next posting we'll be back in the water.